Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 8) — The Department of Health on Monday clarified that dependents of medical frontliners are not supposed to get COVID-19 vaccines until all 1.8 million healthcare workers have been inoculated.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the current stockpile of 1.12 million doses can only inoculate 560,000 people since two doses are needed for those who will receive Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines. This is not even enough to vaccinate all healthcare workers, she stressed.
“They are not eligible. Ang binibigyang prayoridad muna ngayon ay healthcare workers natin,” the official in a media briefing. “Ang pamilya ng healthcare workers, dadating tayo sa punto na iyan kung papasok sila sa ibang sektor, mabibigyan sila.”
[Translation: We are prioritizing healthcare workers. Their families will receive it if they are part of other priority sectors.]
Quezon City Rep. Angelina “Helen” Tan was one of the first few people who received Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine last week, saying she got the shot because she is a registered dependent of her son who is a healthcare worker.
The DOH also said the government officials who jumped the vaccine priority list will be able to get their second dose despite their disregard for the line.
Vergeire, however, stressed that no breaches in the priority list can be committed when it comes to the doses from AstraZeneca due to the possibility of losing additional vaccines from the global COVAX facility.
“Hindi natin pwede sayangin ang bakuna na naibigay na, kailangan ibigay ang second dose,” Vergeire pointed out. “Any breach sa protocol na pinapatupad sa ngayon might jeopardize the succeeding batches of vaccines that will come from COVAX. Nakikiusap tayo na sundin ang prioritization framework.”
[Translation: We cannot waste the first dose so we have to give the second dose. We are appealing to follow the prioritization framework.]
There was a breach in the priority list during the first week of rollout when Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya and Michael Salalima, chief of staff of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, received their Sinovac shots. During the vaccination ceremony at the Pasay General Hospital, Pasay City Vice Mayor Noel Boyet del Rosario — who is not a medical frontliner — was also inoculated.
It was not the first time government officials violated the priority list. Officials have admitted that President Rodrigo Duterte’s close-in security team received smuggled COVID-19 vaccines made by Chinese firm Sinopharm as early as late 2020 despite the absence of regulatory approval.
Duterte’s former special appointee, Ramon Tulfo, also revealed that he and thousands of other government officials, soldiers, and police personnel have been inoculated with Sinopharm.
The President only allowed the early vaccination of three top government officials, but they too are not healthcare workers: Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., testing czar Vince Dizon, and MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos. They were all vaccinated on the first day of the rollout.
